I'd share your sentiment if she were, say, complaining about her literary talents being wasted working on ads, or as an elementary school English teacher. But

I'd share your sentiment if she were, say, complaining about her literary talents being wasted working on ads, or as an elementary school English teacher. But as she's working in an Amazon warehouse for just about minimum wage, so I don't quite see how one would see a sense of entitlement quite as prominently as you do. I could just as easily characterise the sentiment as "desperation". After all, the "American Dream" isn't, at its core, just about rags-to-riches. It's also about a society where everyone can find opportunity that at least approximately match one's aptitude. For the so-called "Great Generation" the situation was starkly different. While graduate degrees mattered less, opportunity was abundant. And someone somewhat diligent and not too stupid, as one without a doubt must be to keep a job in a warehouse while publishing essays as she does, would have found a way into the middle class[0]. To see this change and react with the sort of told-you-so glee of others' misfortune, possibly informed by some anxieties around "the two cultures", strikes me cruel. 0: only valid for white men, of course. So some things do get better with time.